More trouble for Punjab drug haul kingpin

The alleged kingpin of Punjab drugs haul case, dismissed DSP Jagdish Singh Bhola, is in more trouble as Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) sleuths have decided to intensify their lookout for him in a 2009 narcotics case.

The alleged kingpin of Punjab drugs haul case, dismissed DSP Jagdish Singh Bhola, is in more trouble as Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) sleuths have decided to intensify their lookout for him in a 2009 narcotics case.

The agency's zonal unit here has informed its headquarters in Delhi that Bhola, a suspended Punjab deputy superintendent of police, has thrice skipped appearance in a special narcotics court here in a case where the agency allegedly caught him with 25kgs of ephedrine, a drug used mainly by athletes, near a mall in suburban Mumbai in June 2009.

The latest court date in this case was Wednesday.

"The NCB may request the court to issue a non-bailable arrest warrant against Bhola in this case while a look out notice against him would be notified. He is also wanted by the Punjab police in the latest narcotics case," sources in the NCB said.

Punjab Police had seized heroin worth Rs 484 crore from the house of alleged NRI drug dealer Anoop Singh Kahlon at Zirakpur last month and are yet to arrest Bhola, suspected to be the alleged kingpin of this racket.

"The first hearing that he (Bhola) missed was on March 7, four days after the drug haul was detected while on Thursday he missed the hearing again. He has missed a total of three hearings in this case," the sources said.

According to the NCB FIR, Bhola had come from Punjab to deliver the contraband to a person here who is also an accused in the case. The NCB had said this person alongwith another had provided him logistical support to smuggle the drugs to Cambodia.

Days after Bhola was arrested in this case, he was released on bail by the special Narcotic Drugs and Pyschotropic Substances Act (NDPS) court but the Bombay High court cancelled his bail.

Later, Bhola had approached the Supreme Court which stayed the Bombay High court order and granted him bail.